NC State University Revolutionizes Production Facilities with IP Connectivity

Posted: 06/05/2020

North Carolina (NC) State University has transformed its live course production capabilities with a networked video infrastructure, based on the SMPTE ST 2110 standard for connectivity, around its campuses in Raleigh, N.C. Technology from Imagine Communications is at the heart of NC State DELTA (Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications) providing a quantum leap in capacity and operational efficiency.

DELTA already had dedicated fiber runs linking their centralized operations center located in Ricks Hall Annex with six other buildings on the main campus and two additional buildings located up to 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) away on their Centennial Campus. Fiber links were being used simply as single-mode, point-to-point connections, providing the capacity for just four video signals per classroom transmitted back to the operations center. In addition to replacing systems that were beyond end of life, it was important to DELTA to provide much greater capacity if it was to meet its commitment to the wider university community for high-quality educational media supporting distance learning in an efficient, effective and service-oriented environment. For the year 2018-2019, this included more than 130 live courses and greater than 7,000 hours of classroom recordings, to support almost 50,000 students enrolled in online and distance learning courses.

The new system uses just 16 fibers to provide extensive networked capability, leaving 20 strands from the original installation free for future expansion. By taking a networked IP approach, the new system gave the DELTA team the capability of 32 x 32 HD signals from each remote building. This is achieved thanks to bidirectional 100 gigabit ethernet capacity across the fiber network.

Texas A and M Goes IP with Imagine Communications for Integrated Sports Production

Posted: 28/04/2020

12th Man Productions, the sports broadcast and post facility for Texas A&M University, has moved to IP connectivity to provide a common production platform for all its sports venues. A cornerstone of the new installation is the Selenio™ Network Processor (SNP) from Imagine Communications.

The A&M campus in College Station, Texas, incorporates seven sports venues, spread across the site, which host as many as 110 events a year. As well as offering broadcast outputs from any event at any location, 12th Man Productions also provides in-stadium big screen entertainment and information. The football stadium, Kyle Field, was rebuilt in 2014, and as part of that project, a central studio was planned.

Today, fiber circuits connect every field back to the Kyle Field stadium, allowing resources to be allocated to any venue dynamically. Four control rooms allow two venues to broadcast live, while also producing big screen shows at two more venues. This calls for a large number of feeds in each direction, supporting monitors, multiple digital signage networks and big screen replays, as well as feeds for home and visiting teams. There is also a need to provide for official replay facilities in many sports. All signals are handled as uncompressed HD, minimizing latency by eliminating the delays of compression math, and allowing for live remote production even when venues are 10 kilometers from the control room.

Leader Electronics announces a new addition to its portfolio of broadcast test instruments and signal generators. Designed for use in both SDI and IP infrastructure, the LT4611 is a 1U full-rack-width generator producing analog video sync, audio word-clock signals and SMPTE ST 2059-2 profile.Based on the established and proven LT4610, it has a lower entry price point giving broadcasters the freedom to select the features they need as the industry progresses from SDI to an increasingly IP-dominated world.

As well as providing both a 10 GbE and 1GbE PTP interface, the LT4611 comes as standard with three independent synchronized analogue black and burst outputs. This overcomes the challenges of requiring both IP and SDI timing references. The LT4611 also supports a stay-in-sync function which maintains the phase when GPS reference is lost, plus a slow-lock function to reduce quality-of-service issues that occur when genlock is restored.

All LT4611 functions can be managed from the front panel or remotely. Up to 10 preset configurations can be saved within the generator. The LT4611 can be started with the same settings each time. Logo data and preset data can be written to and recalled from plug-in memory devices via a front-panel USB port.

Building on the success of its CV225 Lipstick Camera, Marshall Electronics releases its next-generation CV226 HD Lipstick Camera with new sensor technology improving color, clarity, and low-light, and a new ultra-flexible 3GSDI cable. The CV226 is ideal for capturing discreet, all-weather video in professional broadcast television applications including broadcast trucks, weather vehicles, reality television, sports, racing, and house of worship.

“The CV226 is the fifth camera released as part of our next generation HD camera line,” says Tod Musgrave, director of cameras at Marshall. “The upgraded CV226 utilizes the same upgraded sensor as our new CV503 and CV506 models, but only the CV226 boards are designed to fit into an all-weather miniature lipstick-style body. We have seen our lipstick cameras used in a range of exciting projects and can’t wait for those same engineers to plug in our new models.”

The upgraded line, which also includes the CV503, CV506, CV344, and CV346, greatly improves upon nearly every feature that has made Marshall Electronics’ POV cameras so widely adopted in broadcast and professional AV applications. Marshall collaborated directly with broadcast integrators to develop these new cameras, representing the next evolution in its HD camera solutions.

1: Buffer measurement based on SMPTE ST 2110-21.2; Packet error and packet jitter insertion to the IP test signal generator; 3: Addition of lip-sync test pattern to the SER32 option; 4: IP to SDI conversion insertion of payload ID; 5: Simultaneous display of ports 1 and 2 packet jitter and PTP measurement; 6: Event log displayed in PTP time; 7: PTP grand master clock information is displayed from the PTP announcement message; 8: Graph data such as packet jitter and PTP are output as a CSV file; 9: Audio and ANC can also be displayed on the ST 2110 packet jitter graph. The toolset is available as a freely downloadable upgrade.

Enhanced measurement of SDI is being introduced for all five models in the ZEN series. The SDI measurement function specified in 12G/6G/3G/HD-SDI now provides two new extra tools. First of these is a BT.709-compatible vector scope scale. UHDTV (ARIB STD-B66) and HLG color bars (ARIB STD-B67) contain BT.2020 and BT.709 colors. A scale has been added to allow the vector coordinates of BT.709 color bars to be checked easily. This feature is intended for use in BT.2020 and BT.709 video content production. Second of these two new features is enhanced support for EIA-708/608 close-caption data in 4K, with support for both 3G-SDI quad-link and 12G-SDI. This too is available as a freely downloadable upgrade.

Also new is plug-in module SER31 for the LV5600 and LV7600, providing enhanced measurement of 12G/6G/3G/HD-SDI. This allows operators to check chroma levels beyond the BT.709 or DCI-P3 gamut. The new feature simplifies the task of identifying the reproduction errors which can occur when transmitting video content produced in BT.709, DCI-P3 or BT.2020 wide color gamut or when converting content from BT.2020 to narrow color gamut. With the colorimetry zone feature switched on, chroma signals exceeding the legal gamut are made immediately apparent using a false-color substitute.

A Leader LV5900 HD/4K/8K multi-standard waveform monitor was chosen by BT Sport to monitor the signal feed from the UK's first public demonstration of live 8K sport. The UEFA Europa League match between Arsenal and Olympiacos (round of 32) on the 27th February was transmitted live by BT Sport and its partners using the LV5900 to check signal quality in a BT Sport 8K broadcast production truck located just outside the venue.

BT Sport Ultimate, launched in 2019, was the world’s first service to feature regular programming in high dynamic range as well as 4K UHD and Dolby Atmos. BT first demonstrated its 8K capability with an hour-long live relay of a Premiership Rugby Sevens match from Northampton, England, to the September 2019 Amsterdam IBC.

"We are pleased to have partnered with BT Sport at these two events," comments Leader Europe Business Development Manager Kevin Salvidge. "8K HDR is the pinnacle in terms of television production quality, creating a picture 16 times sharper than HD. Our LV5900 waveform monitor is a highly compact instrument designed for checking video and audio signal parameters at any point in the production and delivery chain, from studio right through to transmission and reception."

Hitomi Broadcast, manufacturer of MatchBox, the industry’s leading audio video alignment toolbox, and the new MatchBox Glass app for near instant lip-sync alignment of mics and cameras, are leading solutions for live broadcast.

MatchBox is already used by broadcasters worldwide to ensure the timing of live sports, news and events and now, when teamed with the use of the free iOS App, Matchbox Glass, it enables quick and reliable camera line-up into truck, remote production facility or in newsgathering applications. To use, an iPhone or iPad is simply held up in shot running the Glass App. This allows the MatchBox analyser to instantly verify camera and mic timing alignment. Glass reduces a time consuming and error-prone process to a matter of seconds.

The MatchBox Analyser tool is typically situated in a master control room, studio or OB vehicle. It looks and listens for the specific Hitomi video and audio signatures produced by the hardware MatchBox Generator or MatchBox Glass App. The measurement performed by the analyser is very fast - just a few seconds - and highly effective, vastly speeding up the process and ultimately helping to eliminate the headaches and frustrations of last-minute lip-sync issues.

Hitomi Broadcast Director Russell Johnson said, “Synchronisation is often one of the last items on a field production checklist and can happen right up to going live or on-air. Often, it can be discovered too late that there are sync issues, which can be costly and, at the very least, embarrassing to resolve at the last second.”

Arena Television has purchased four Leader LV5350 waveform monitors for its new OB17 vehicle which operates from Arena's Redhill Aerodrome headquarters in Surrey. One of Europe's largest and most capable HD trucks, OB17 is a 16.5 metre long 32 tonne articulated vehicle with twin full-length expanding sides.

"OB17 is a powerful HD-HDR/SDR truck built for assignments such as light entertainment," says Dafydd (Daf) Rees, Deputy Director of Operations at Arena Television. "Its first job was for ITV's coverage of the Royal Variety Performance last November. HD-SDR is still the dominant production format but we are seeing a steady increase in demand for HD-HDR. We chose Leader LV5350 waveform monitors for the shading suite because they support both standards."

Leader Europe has provided two LV7300 rasterizing waveform monitors to the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden. They were chosen as part of an extensive UHD/HDR upgrade carried out to the facilities used to relay stage performances for live viewing by cinema audiences in Europe and for distribution to other venues around the world.

"We needed instruments that would operate reliably in our current HD-SDR production environment and in the 4K-HDR standard to which we aspire," comments ROH Media broadcast engineer and production mixer Mark Thackeray. "The Royal Opera House in London has been broadcasting live to cinemas in 5.1 surround sound for 10 years. In any one season we transmit 12 or more productions."

"Our first 4K-HDR project was a documentary in 2017 for NHK. Leader lent us an LV5490 portable waveform monitor for that production as we needed the ability to capture, monitor and deliver Rec. 2020 wide color gamut video. The instrument functioned well both as an engineering reference and with its intuitive CINEZONE and CINELITE toolsets which are particularly useful during live production.

"For permanent installation, we decided on two LV7300 rasterizers which provide a full set of 12G/3G/HD/SD-SDI measurement facilities that our production staff can view on a larger display screen. The instruments are useful both to ensure accurate color matching of camera channels and for ensuring that we are delivering the best possible signal quality right through the production chain."

Following recent investment in Leader LV7600 UHD HDR rasterizers for its UHD and HDR capable grading and finishing areas, dock10 has purchased a Leader LV5600 SDI/IP waveform monitor as part of ongoing technical development of the production resources supporting MediaCity UK in Salford. The LV5600 was supplied by Leader Europe UK channel partner Jigsaw24. It will be integrated into dock10's newly completed UHD HDR live production system, checking incoming camera feeds from multiple studio cameras to ensure uniform alignment and color matching.

"Ultra high definition and high dynamic range each have an important role to play in the television industry as it progresses to meet rising viewer expectations," comments John O’Shaughnessy, Head of Technology Operations at dock10. "The greater quality made possible by originating content in higher resolution and wider illumination span opens up many new opportunities for content creators. It also increases the long-term value of their productions. Leader's LV5600 incorporates the tools our operators and technicians need to ensure the full impact of UHD and HDR is carried from the point of capture in the studio front end right through to each viewer's display screen."

PMC’s founder and CEO Peter Thomas has been awarded a Fellowship by the Institute of Professional Sound (IPS) in recognition of his contribution to the professional audio industry.

IPS Chairman Simon Clark says: “We have honoured Peter for the significant impact he has had on the audio industry through pushing the boundaries of monitor design to achieve more accuracy, particularly at higher volumes. PMC’s Advanced Transmission Line system for bass loading is unique and has delivered noticeable improvements in audio quality over conventional loudspeaker design principles. It is fair to say that Peter’s work in this area has been transformative and has resulted in loudspeaker products that are the world’s reference for mastering and for the bulk of music production.”

As a charitable organisation that champions the highest quality of sound production and sound recording in all forms of broadcast, recorded, and live events, the IPS is widely respected for the support, training and networking opportunities it delivers. Its Fellowship programme is very selective – there are currently only 10 living people who hold this honour – as it is designed to recognise those who are ‘operationally outstanding in their area’.

Catalonia's public broadcaster Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation (Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals or CCMA) has chosen Leader's LV7300 rasterizer as the master reference instrument as part of an upgrade to HD-HDR at its Audiovisual Production Centre in Barcelona. The CCMA's primary channel is TV3 Catalonia which is transmitted to viewers in Catalonia, Andorra and the Balearic Islands.

Supplied by Leader distribution partner SetUp Electrónica, the LV7300 will be used to check video and audio signal quality in a newly equipped studio equipped to support 4K, HD and super slow motion. The studio's primary role will be to create high quality HD-HDR content.

"Sourcing from 4K-native Sony cameras with IP connectivity and ITU-R BT 2020 color gamut will allow us to capture images with very rich colors, greater than ever contrast and high detail," says TV3 Area of Exploitation director Ramon Sangrà.

"Leader's LV7300 rasterizer gives our operators all the tools they need to ensure that these enhancements are carried right through the production process from capture, post and archiving to actual transmission. The instrument's ability to handle 4K helps to safeguard our investment as the broadcast industry embraces ever higher standards."

TVN MOBILE PRODUCTION has chosen Leader LV5600 test instruments as the technical reference for its newly completed UE6 4K HDR OB truck, reported to be the largest of its kind in Europe. Built in partnership between TVN and Sony, the vehicle is optimised for high quality UHD, HD and mixed format production in both HDR and SDR. Its first deployment was at the Northern Ireland v Germany UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier in Belfast in September.

"Leader's LV5600 provides all the test and measurement facilities we need both in the SDI and IP domains," says TVN CEO Markus Osthaus. "We have invested in three units – one for each of our production galleries and the third for the associated tender vehicle. The instruments pack a lot of features into a very compact space, including 4K, HD, HDR and SDR signal analysis. They are particularly useful for matching incoming video feeds including up to 30 Sony HDC-4300 UHD cameras."

""Shooting in 4K UHD requires very precise signal monitoring from the the initial point of capture right through the production and post-production chain," adds Leader's European Regional Development Manager, Kelvin Salvidge. "The LV5600 and its LV7600 rasterising equivalent are no-compromise test instruments which we see becoming the reference of choice both in the mobile and studio-based markets. Their ability to handle SDI and IP makes them truly future-proof."

TVN MOBILE PRODUCTION has chosen Leader LV5600 test instruments as the technical reference for its newly completed UE6 4K HDR OB truck, reported to be the largest of its kind in Europe. Built in partnership between TVN and Sony, the vehicle is optimised for high quality UHD, HD and mixed format production in both HDR and SDR. Its first deployment was at the Northern Ireland v Germany UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier in Belfast in September.

Densitron and Sonifex announce audio and video display development collaboration

Posted: 15/10/2019

Densitron, a creator of HMI technologies, Broadcast intelligent display solutions, and a global leader in display, monitor, and embedded computing solutions and Sonifex, which manufactures broadcast audio equipment for radio, TV, and telecommunications, have announced a joint technical development initiative designed to tightly integrate Sonifex audio displays with a number of flagship Densitron reference monitors.

Densitron’s smartphone-like clarity and in-plane switching (IPS) technology is being modified to integrate with a new range of Sonifex devices soon to be unveiled.

However, Sonifex’s new Dante® AVN-CU2 and AVN-CU4 commentary units as well as its AVN multi-channel audio mix engines already now use Densitron colour LCD displays.

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